1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wizard applications. Specifically, the present invention relates to a modular architecture for wizard applications and also to wizard applications with a common look and feel regardless of the operating system platform on which the wizard applications are operating.
2. The Relevant Technology
Wizard utility applications have conventionally been used to allow a computer user (e.g., a client user, developer, technician, or programmer) to perform an operation on a computer by providing a series of steps and offering assisting in completing these series of steps. However, wizard applications are generally operating system platform specific. For example, a wizard application on a Windows NT operating system cannot be easily implemented on a Solaris operating system.
Furthermore, even if the user were to place the wizard application on a different operating system, the user is not ensured that all of the application programming interface (APIs) will be available to be able to communicate with the operating system platform.
In addition, when wizard applications are used on different operating systems, they can have a different look and feel which makes interacting with the wizard application difficult if a user is not familiar with the different looks and feels on various operating systems. In fact, even when a wizard application is designed for another platform, it typically does not provide the same look and feel as on other platforms.
There are many situations where this lack of a common look and feel can reduce the effectiveness of a wizard application. A software programmer, for example, may spend more time than is necessary when implementing wizards on different platforms. Further, the user does not always have time or the expertise to perform the extensive programming changes that would allow a wizard application to run more effectively on a different operating system.